All wisdom begins in wonder, and this delight kindles a desire for truth that leads us on a quest for the really real -- the source of being itself. Hence, the philosophical impulse, albeit often manifested in atheistic and irreverent stumblings in the dark of human ignorance, begins and ultimately ends in theology -- communicating and communing with our origin and goal. We men are rational animals who seek to know. We are agents of truth who want correct answers to questions that we must ask. From the noblest objects of contemplation to the seemingly insignificant everyday trivialities of life, we attempt to unravel perplexing knots. Limited, blind, and distracted, we nevertheless struggle for wisdom. This is our lot, and it is also our glory.

Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and all Russia said he criticizes feminism.

“I consider this phenomenon called feminism very dangerous, because feminist organizations proclaim the pseudo-freedom of women, which must appear firstly outside of marriage and outside of family,” the patriarch said at a meeting with members of the Ukrainian Union of Orthodox Women in Moscow.

Patriarch Kirill said that the center of the feminist ideology was not family and the upbringing of children “but another function of women, which is often opposed to family values.” It is no coincidence that most feminist leaders are unmarried, the patriarch said.

“I noticed this when I worked in Geneva, at the World Council of Churches, when the feminist theme was just beginning to develop,” he said.

Patriarch Kirill said there was nothing wrong with women pursuing careers, politics, business and many other spheres, “which today involve men mostly”, but the system of priorities should be straight.

A woman is first and foremost “a guardian of the family fire and centre of the family life,” the Patriarch said.

“A man is gazing outwards, he must work and make money, while a woman is always gazing inwards, where her children are, where her home is. If this incredibly important function of a woman is destroyed, then everything will be destroyed - the family and, if you wish, the motherland,” Patriarch Kirill said.

The patriarch said that today “the opinion is being imposed that woman’s calling to be a mother is humiliating, that there are higher and more honorable duties and that fulfilling woman’s natural devotion - and I would like call this devotion - puts a woman in an inferior position to a man.”

“I have a lot of contact with married people. I have seen very few families where a woman was in an inferior position. If one puts a powerful microscope and looks closely, in particular at a husband, and then analyzes the information, it will become clear who the head of the family is,” the patriarch said.

Patriarch Kirill said women’s organizations were the ones to pay attention to such issues as divorces, orphans and birth rate decline.

And to think that I was fearful of Patriarch Kirill’s elevation to the primacy, as he was the Russian Church’s most visible leftwing ecumenist! I have repented of that opinion, and I am ever surprised by the man. Imagine a Western bishop’s questioning feminism (sic), an idol of our heathen age. O Russia, land of fools, saints, and martyrs—often incarnate in the same human beings—how the Lord continually shows you mercy!

Moreover, in tests of their visual attention and memory, the babies of blind mothers actually performed better than their peers at all time points. . . .

The team went back through the literature and found that bilingual babies also show a similar increase in visual attention. That led the team to wonder whether switching between sighted and blind caregivers could provide the same mental boost as switching between different spoken languages.

A few weeks ago, Steve Sailer linked to a piece by Ross Douthat in The New York Times: “The Secrets of Princeton.” I always enjoy reading Douthat’s opinions, but he approaches H.L. Mencken’s level of hard honesty and humor in this article. Well done!

A positive attitude to the sexual revolution is the hallmark of Leftism, which trumps all other themes and unites disparate (and hostile) factions.

To be pro-the sexual revolution is not only the cornerstone of Marxists, Communists, Fascists, Socialists, Labour parties and Democrats; but is shared by mainstream Conservatives, Neo-Conservatives, Republicans; and by Anarchists and Libertarians; and by sex-worshipping neo-Nietzschian pseudo-reactionaries - such as those of the ‘manosphere’.

To be pro-the sexual revolution is the nearest thing to a core value of the mass media; and of art both high-brow and low.

This vast conglomeration is the Left alliance; it is modern local, national and international politics - united only by being pro-the sexual revolution: but this is enough.

*

What is the sexual revolution?

Simply the divorce of sex from marriage and family.

Marriage and family are social institutions; but sex cut-off from (‘liberated’ from) marriage and family is (sooner or later) a monstrous, insatiable and self-stimulating greed for pleasure and distraction.

*

Attitude to the sexual revolution therefore marks the difference between those who are ultimately in favour of human society; and those who delight in its destruction (aka Leftists) who see social collapse as primarily an opportunity to feed their personal addictions; to use other people to make themselves feel good about themselves; to distract themselves with pleasure, and pleasure themselves with distraction.

I wonder, though, about the Christian, specifically Roman Catholic, batallions of the Old Left. Think of Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker movement. These folks remain with us, even today, though they no longer appear to be well organized. The more conservative members of the “social justice” crowd may represent a form of traditionalist socialism that rejects the sexual revolution but affirms a state managed version of communitarian life.

Earlier in the year, I watched a video of the news reporting on the shootout between the Symbionese Liberation Army and the Los Angeles Police Department in A.D. 1974. Evidently, the coverage was one of the first “real time,” “on the scene” moments in media history:

What struck me as I watched the footage was how the people behaved compared to what we now see on the news. Here, in the midst of a dangerous street battle, one sees reporters and citizens acting like self-controlled adults with a reasonable amount of fear and caution. It is what we should expect of free people, without melodrama or over the top police state herding.

Then positive thing Mrs Thatcher did was to reverse decades of British economic decline. . . .

Margaret Thatcher diagnosed the problems, publicly repented of the policies of the past, told Britain what it needed to do (‘roll back’ socialism), explained that short term prosperity had to be sacrificed to the longer term, took the necessary measures and -

Sure enough, things did get worse, there was a period of sharp recession and exacerbated decline.

But Mrs Thatcher held the line until the battle was won, and the impending economic collapse was not just averted but reversed.

Then Britain had a period of strong economic growth.
Many economists had diagnosed Britain’s problems; several politicians knew what needed to be done; perhaps several of these politicians could believe that these things could be done and might even have started the job of fixing the economy…

But only Mrs Thatcher could see-it-through in the face of a level of orchestrated vilification and misrepresentation from the Leftist intelligentsia and organized labour (and most of her own party) which was astonishing at the time and in retrospect.

Thatcher’s leftist and conservative detractors fail to see how remarkable her political virtues were. In a democratic regime, it is exceptionally noteworthy whenever a leader prescribes unpleasant but requisite medicine and then has the statesmanship to carry the changes through successfully. An Iron Lady, indeed!

Last week, Laura Wood featured a delightful video on The Thinking Housewife: “A Glimpse of Political Dignity.” It shows an interview of Margaret Thatcher wherein the Prime Minister refuses to dance like a monkey to entertain the plebs. It also shows the generational (and regime) difference between Thatcher and the interviewer. Not too long ago, the West’s leaders conducted themselves seriously. In the last few generations, we have seen the cultural spirit of democracy continue to triumph in the West, as every standard is lowered to the level of actors, trollops, and proles.

Sadly, the Anglosphere’s greatest leaders in the last century, including Churchill, Thatcher, and Reagan, never seemed to have realized the pernicious nature of democracy. For them, democracy was simply Lincoln’s rhetorical definition of the American republic—government of the people, by the people, for the people. Yet, democracy inherently breeds and facilitates the politics of resentment, jealousy, relativism, egalitarianism, thievery, and, eventually, tyranny. Only with mighty external supports like widespread and committed Christian piety and civic dedication to the common good could a people live decently in a democratic regime without succumbing to its harmful tendencies. We have forgotten the lessons of our founders as well as Tocqueville’s sage remarks.

Today, Britain conducts the funeral of its Iron Lady. May her beloved country reassert its worthiness to survive and to flourish, and may the memory of Margaret Thatcher be eternal.

I learnt yesterday of the death of Mrs. Barbara Willke this past Sunday evening. The Right to Life of Greater Cincinnati posts the details: “In Memoriam: Mrs. Barbara Willke”:

With great sadness, Cincinnati Right to Life mourns the loss of Mrs. Barbara Willke, who served as co-founder along with her husband and as chairman of the organization for 28 years. She died peacefully Sunday night at Good Samaritan Hospital in Cincinnati, after suffering a severe head injury due to a fall. Funeral arrangements are pending.

“Mrs. Willke was a woman of courage and intelligence whose lifelong commitment to preserving the sanctity of human life is a moving legacy,” said Paula Westwood, Executive Director Right to Life of Greater Cincinnati. “No one can fill her shoes.”

Barbara Willke was a beloved wife, mother, grandmother, and internationally known author, lecturer, and expert in human sexuality. She held B.S. and R.N. degrees from the University of Cincinnati, College of Nursing & Health, plus graduate studies at University of Dayton.

Mother of six, grandmother of 22, foster mother of several teenagers, Barbara headed the Department at the College of Nursing for five years before her full-time career as wife and mother. She is the wife of Dr. John Willke, past president of National Right to Life, president, Life Issues Institute and president emeritus, International Right to Life Federation. They would have been married for 65 years this June.

With Dr. Willke, Barbara co-authored twelve books on human sexuality and abortion. Together they created audio and visual materials that were proven to be basic teaching tools throughout the world. Their materials have been translated into 30 languages on all five continents. She and Dr. Willlke frequently appeared on radio and TV shows. They have spoken in 64 different countries.

Mrs. Willke was awarded honorary doctorates from St. Mary-of-the-Woods College and, along with Dr. Willke, Cincinnati’s Xavier University.

Congressman Henry Hyde’s words bring to mind Barbara Willke:

When the time comes, as it surely will, when we face that awesome moment, the final judgment, I’ve often thought, as Fulton Sheen wrote, that it is a terrible moment of loneliness. You have no advocates, you are there alone standing before God — and a terror will rip your soul like nothing you can imagine. But I really think that those in the pro-life movement will not be alone. I think there’ll be a chorus of voices that have never been heard in this world but are heard beautifully and clearly in the next world — and they will plead for everyone who has been in this movement. They will say to God, ‘Spare him, because he loved us!’

I used to volunteer at the Right to Life office in North College Hill when I was a teenager, and I would always find Mrs. Willke tirelessly working in her office, though she was decades older than retirement age. Even though she and her husband were instrumental in founding the right to life movement in America and were internationally celebrated in prolife circles, Mrs. Willke humbly remained in Cincinnati and toiled in our small, unpretentious R.T.L. headquarters. She would frequently come out to say encouraging words and to show her appreciation to the volunteers while we helped stuff envelopes and did other clerical tasks in the back workroom. She was always kind and grandmotherly, manifesting a quiet but radiant and peaceful joy. May her memory be eternal! And of that, I am certain. I do not have definite views on the afterlife, but if souls may converse in the presence of the Lord, then I suspect that her friend the late Nellie Gray was there to welcome Mrs. Willke home.